DRINKING WATER
Testing For Yesterday's Water In A PFAS World
Relying on assumptions when designing water treatment systems creates unnecessary financial and operational risks. Adopting predictive modeling and data-driven testing provides the precise, actionable insights required to optimize performance, manage costs, and ensure compliance.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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The Risks Of Rushing A PFAS Solution (And How To Avoid Them)
Renting a temporary PFAS treatment package gives water treatment plants time to evaluate longer-term options while still meeting the current regulations.
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AMI Reluctance And The Risk Of Doing Nothing
Water utility systems that have transitioned to AMI benefit from increased revenue, reduced risk, improved customer relations, and widespread efficiencies across operations.
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Fuel And Fuel Additives
The fuels that propel modern society have been found in water supplies all over the world. Some fuel-related contaminants can be found at a majority of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) National Priority List Sites, where they pose a potential threat to human and environmental health.
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White House Utility District Reduces Costs By Over $1 Million
In 2007, White House Utility District (WHUD), a water utility serving approximately 90,000 consumers and businesses in Tennessee, faced a dilemma: how to meet a projected growing demand for water within the budget and capital constraints faced by municipal and mid-sized utilities everywhere.
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KETOS Ensures Consistent Product Quality With Water Quality Monitoring
A microbrewery utilizing groundwater as one of the water sources in the brewing process had difficulty receiving permits. A full lifecycle remediation and monitoring process needed to be in place to receive permits.
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AFC SEMPER® Remote Pressure Monitors Provide Real-Time Insight To Miami Beach Water
Over the past year, the Water Division of the city of Miami Beach, Florida, has seen its use of AMERICAN Flow Control SEMPER Remote Pressure Monitors (RPM) grow.
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Post-COVID Emergency Contingency Planning Is More Important Than Ever
Many utility managers, consulting engineers, and contractors have more than a little anxiety with emergency repairs of large-diameter pipe under the best of circumstances. Unfortunately, supply chain fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has made emergency repairs more challenging for large and small piping alike. Here are some considerations that can better prepare water and wastewater utilities to cope with their emergency repair surprises.
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Filtration Of Invasive Zebra Mussels From Lake Michigan
Due to new construction and foot print limitations for the Milwaukee Art Museum, a new chiller feed line was fed directly from Lake Michigan and a filtration system was needed to prevent zebra mussels from entering the feed line and clogging the system.
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Monitoring Lead In School Drinking Water
The EPA’s guidance documentation “3T’s for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Child Care Facilities: Training, Testing, Telling” recommends for schools to routinely test their facility’s drinking water, with a focus on lead levels in drinking water fountains.
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Profile II Analytical Results, Mine Site Processing
Increasing profitability through efficient tailing and pregnant solution processing.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Improved Efficiencies In TOC Wastewater Analysis For Standard Method 5310B And EPA Method 41510/16/2014Total organic carbon (TOC) measurement is of vital importance to the operation of water treatment due to organic compounds comprising a large group of water pollutants. TOC has been around for many years, and although it is a relatively simple analysis in theory, operational efficiency is paramount.
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The Process Of Deionizing Water10/29/2021
Years ago, high purity water was used only in limited applications. Today, deionized (Dl) water has become an essential ingredient in hundreds of applications including: medical, laboratory, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, electronics manufacturing, food processing, plating, countless industrial processes, and even the final rinse at the local car wash.
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Innovative Solutions To Drinking Water Decontamination In Small And Medium Treatment Plants9/21/2017
Air stripping technology effectively removes VOCs, THMs, and CO2 for improved adherence to water quality regulations.
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Water Treatment In Boilers And Cooling Towers10/29/2021
Most people recognize problems associated with corrosion. Effects from scale deposits, however, are equally important. For example, as little as 1/8" of scale can reduce the efficiency of a boiler by 18% or a cooling tower heat exchanger by 40%!
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Simplify And Optimize Your Process With Level And Pump Control3/1/2022
Level controllers have evolved to meet today’s environmental challenges and industry demands. Learn how they support improved process management and, ultimately, a better bottom line.
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Ultrapure Water For Determination of Toxic Elements In Environmental Analyses4/10/2018
In this paper the importance of reagent water quality for toxic element environmental analyses is discussed, and the suitability of fresh ultrapure water produced using MilliporeSigma water purification systems for ICP-OES and ICP-MS trace element analyses in environmental laboratories is demonstrated.
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How To Read An Encoder9/13/2013
The HR-E LCD encoder has a 9-digit Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) to show consumption, flow and alarm information. The display automatically toggles between 9-digit and 6-digit consumption, rate of flow and meter model.
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Water Determination In Liquefied Petroleum Gas Using GC BID And Ionic Liquid Column Watercol™6/28/2018
Water in petrochemical feedstocks can cause problems for processors. Freezing of pipe lines and valves and poisoning of expensive catalysts are just a few examples.
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Optimizing Brine Flow In A Geothermal Power Plant1/27/2022
Different flow meter technologies were used in this geothermal power plant to monitor and measure brine. However, these traditional technologies failed. That’s where Panametrics PT900 Portable Ultrasonic Flowmeter was able to help.
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Determination Of Hexanal In Foods Utilizing Dynamic Headspace4/9/2015
Hexanal is one of many well-documented aromatic components that contribute to flavor and aroma in common consumer food products containing omega-6 fatty acids. Hexanal content is also used to measure the oxidative status of foods rich in omega-6 fatty acids.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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A new study linking certain groundwater sources to higher Parkinson’s risk underscores a broader question for the water sector: how environmental exposures in drinking water may influence long-term health.
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The growing demand for water across a variety of sectors combined with the increasingly understood complexity of emerging contaminants is creating a dynamic marketplace for filtration media. The goal of selecting the right filtration media is not to meet minimum standards but to achieve the right balance of performance, durability, and operational simplicity to ensure long-term compliance and cost-effective operation.
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Learn key ozone formulas, unit conversions, and measurement standards to accurately calculate generator output, concentration, and dosage for effective system design, performance verification, and safe operation.
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Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region use the fossil fuels under their desert lands not only to make money, but also to make drinking water. The petroleum they produce powers more than 400 desalination plants, which turn seawater into drinkable water.
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In an industrial landscape increasingly shaped by lifecycle accountability, material traceability, and rising disposal costs, chromium recovery is not merely a technical alternative — it is a strategic upgrade, where wastewater can become a resource stream.
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Around the world, rivers are no longer changing gradually. Rather, they are being increasingly transformed by extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. A newly published global review finds these events are pushing ecosystems beyond their limits and eroding biodiversity and core functions.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.